Laur,
It's hard to describe stuff about music in words and be sure of being clear, so
I'm going to illustrate my remarks by citing some recordings.
First, there's at least one version of "Beaumont Rag" that's a perfectly fine
contra dance contra dance tune. Check out these videos. (Times in parentheses
tell when the band switches into "Beaumont Rag" from another tune.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG0i8NTYGvc (4:08)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlOk-UULmVc (1:43)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOYAMcYVBg (5:28)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynafcljHXhk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13PQT9ubOdc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArLulDsc-fg
All the music in these six videos strikes me as quite suitable for contra
dancing. In the ones that give a good view of the dancers, they don't seem to
be struggling. Even when you can't see the dancers, you can tell by the sound
that things are going well. In particular, you won't hear any callers who sound
like they're sweating bullets trying to keep the dance together.
The versions of the tune in the videos above certainly aren't note for note
identical, and some bands put in a fair amount of variation from one round of
the tune to the next, but they all stick closely to the same basic phrasing.
If your local band plays "Beaumont Rag" and it doesn’t work for the dancers and
it’s agonizing for the callers, then I wonder what they're doing that's
different from what's happening in the videos above.
Bill Olson wrote:
> ... there are SO many ways Beaumont Rag is played. Not all of them are 32
> bars long. and it is often played as a "show off' tune at Bluegrass
> festivals, i.e. REALLY FAST!!!
The tempos in the videos above range from about 111 to 127 beats per minute.
Illustrating Bill's point about people sometimes playing real fast, here's a
recording I found at a beat or two above 140:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3HxHClfJso
And here are some examples, at various tempos, illustrating Bill's point about
not all versions being 32 bars long:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNhcKJTW9Hg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2IRu8quLRs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NB8IPHdiXo&t=1347s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WRCyqaNxas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQeNPeQpZJY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKdAupCMDPw
In fact, none of these six is entirely in 8-bar (16-beat) phrases. If you
listen to any of them and try counting along from 1 to 16 over and over, you'll
find that at some point you get to "8" or "4" and the music signals strongly
that it's time to start again at "1".
If your local band's version of "Beaumont Rag" is like any of those last six,
then regardless of the tempo it won't be a good fit for any standard-length
contra dance and it won't be a good fit for "Balance the Star" or "Anna Turn's
Five" or other dances that people have been suggesting, either.
Another thing that could be going wrong is that there's something about the
band's style of playing for that particular tune that somehow obscures the
phrasing. Take a listen to this guitar version of "Beaumont Rag" played with
undeniable skill by Mark O'Connor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJuXNiybth0
I _think_ it's mostly (perhaps entirely?) in 8-bar phrases, but there are
places where, at least for me, it's a struggle to keep track. And I don't think
it's just on account of the high speed. It's something about the ornamentation.
That sort of playing could be great for a concert, but at a contra dance, I
think that even if the dancers could dance to it, a lot of them would find it
more work than fun. (Possibly, however, it could make all the difference in the
world if another band member were giving the dancers rock-solid phrasing.)
Bill also wrote:
> the tune is pretty much fun if played AABB at a reasonable tempo. ...
Returning to my opening observation
> It's hard to describe stuff about music in words and be sure of being clear,
let me offer a final word of caution. If the issue turns out to be that the
band plays a "crooked" version of "Beaumont Rag", then even _if_ your
relationship with the band is such that you could appropriately suggest that a
different version would work better for contra dancing, and even _if_ you could
get them completely sold on the idea, and even _if_ they were not merely
willing but eager to try it (all VERY BIG "if"s), I can almost guarantee
(without going into the details) that saying "AABB" would _not_ be an adequate
way to describe the version you're suggesting.
I hope some of this is helpful.
--Jim
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